Twenty of the CSLA chapter's students have been awarded, over the years, the highly-competitive Gabriela Mistral Award, for academic excellence. Six others have received Sigma Delta Pi summer scholarships to study in Spain and Mexico. Under the direction of faculty adviser Dr. Domnita Dumitrescu, the CSLA Chapter was declared an "Honor Chapter" by the National Honor Society of Sigma Delta Pi each year during the 1991-1999 period. Moreover, for several years, it has also been judged to rank among the top ten of the 21 Honor Chapters distinguished with certificates of honor.

During Dr. Ignacio Lopez-Calvo’s tenure as adviser (2000-2003) the chapter has held several cultural activities, such as field trips to opera concerts, book signings by Latin American authors and poetry readings. The chapter also invited Dr. Jill Robbins (University of California, Irvine), Dr. Carl Jubran (University of San Diego), Dr. Armand Mattelart (University of Paris), Mariam Saada, Felipe Díaz, and Manuel Aguilar (CSULA) to give presentations on Hispanic literature and culture. Dr.Arturo Arias, President of LASA (Latin American Studies Association) and twice winner of the Casa de las Americas Award gave a talk entitled “Dos versiones de la verdad de Rigoberta Menchú: La version de MáximoCajal, y la construcción ideológica de David Stoll", and Mexican poet Citlalli H. Xochitiotzin read some of her poems and gave a talk on contemporary Mexican poetry. The chapter won the National Certificate of Honor and Merit for the academic year 2000-2001.

Dr. Domnita Dumitrescu, who was at that time serving her fourth term as National Vice-president of the organization for the Western region, has accepted to be again the chapter adviser for 2003-2005. Under her leadership, the chapter won again a certificate of honor and merit for its activity in 2003-2004, which included, among other things, the presentation of a book edited by two distinguished Department members- emeriti professors Gigi Gaucher-Morales and Alfredo Morales – in the series of the complete works of the Mexican writer Miguel N. Lira. After the presentation, a group of students read parts of a play by Miguel N. Lira. In fall 2004, professor José Cruz González, director of the West Coast Hispanic Repertory for more than eleven years, gave a lecture on the Hispanic theater in the US and showed footage of his own work with the local Hispanic community. The chapter also invited Dr. Silva-Corvalán, from USC, to be the keynote speaker at its initiation ceremony in Spring 2004, which was attended by almost 100 guests. She spoke on the topic of Spanish in Los Angeles.

In Spring 2005, the keynote address was given by Dr. Cristian Ricci, Assistant Professor of Spanish at UC Merced, and Cal State LA alumnus, on the topic: “The Moors Return to Spain: Frontiers, Immigration, Racism and Transculturation in the Contemporay Maghrebi Literature.”After the lecture, Spanish songs were performed by Angela Estrada, from the Bilingual Foundation of the Arts, also a Cal State LA alumna.

The chapter also invited Berta Tapia, a Cal State LA alumna, to present the Who’s who in Ecuador dictionary, that she published, and in which several CSULA graduate students and alumni were included. The ceremony was presided over by Professor Ruzickova, who was in charge of the chapter at that time.

The major event in the chapter life is the annual ceremony for the initiation of new members and the fraternity dinner that follows. In Spring 2008, under Dr. Maria Costa’s leadership, the chapter held a successful initiation of new members at El Cid Restaurant. The most recent initiation ceremony took place on April 9, 2010, when the following 17 students were inducted as active members: Olivia Aguilar, Brian K. Bennitt, Jorge A. Encinas, Jardiel Ferreyra, Paola Gómez, Mee Elizabeth González, Suzette González, Victoria Harding, Esther M. Hernández, Ana Cecilia Iraheta, Miriam Monroy, María Isabel Oliveros, Heriberto A. Orea, Dulce E. Pichardo, Manrique Ramírez, Juancarlos H. Roque, and Ivett Romo Verdín. Also, graduate student Moisés Albarrán was awarded the prestigious Gabriela Mistral Prize, for his outstanding academic achievements and active participation in the chapter’s life. During the fraternity dinner, which was attended by the chapter’s members, their families and friends, as well as Spanish professors and a number of alumni who are now teaching Spanish at colleges in the area, professor Manuel Castillejos, Chair of the Department of Modern Languages at Mount San Antonio College, was distinguished with the Order of the Discoverers in recognition of his exemplary efforts to promote the Hispanic culture in the US and his sustained and active involvement in all the major cultural events of our Department.

Professor Dumitrescu, who acted as interim adviser of the chapter in 2009- 2010, made a few welcoming remarks and acknowledged the financial support from emeritus professor Alfredo Morales, member of the Order of the Discoverers, and professor José Cruz González, from the Theater Arts Department, who is a honorary member of our chapter. She saluted the presence, in the audience, of Cuban poet and essayist Néstor Díaz de Villegas, and she ended her talk by reading some passages from the writings of Elena Poniatowska and álvaro Mutis, praising the beauty and the richness of the Spanish language.

Since its reactivation, in 1989, the chapter has initiated more than 300 new members. The chapter has also recognized several of its faculty members by distinguishing them with the highest orders of this prestigious honor Society. So far, the Order of the Discoverers has been conferred on Dr. Dale, Carter, Dr. Gaucher-Morales, Dr. Alfredo Morales, Dr. Hildebrando Villarreal, and Dr. Joseph Chrzanowski, besides Professor Castillejo, already mentioned. Dr. Dumitrescu, the faculty adviser, has won in 1995 the José Martel prize for an outstanding adviser, in 1997, the Order of the Discoverers, and in 2003, the Order of Don Quijote. The chapter has also a number of honorary members, among them: Dr. Felipe Díaz, Dr. María Costa, Dr. Alejandro Solomianski, Dr. Elena Ruzickova, Dr. Pablo Baler, Dr. María Fernanda Márquez, and Professor José Cruz González, from the Theatre Arts department, among others. One of the recently elected honorary members of the chapter, Dr. Maya Márquez, has accepted to become the new adviser in Fall 2010.